Steam washing machine



STEAM WASHING MACHINE Jun@ Lai w Filed Oct. 18, 1932 u W au o Patented June 23, 1936 PATENT OFFICE STEAM WASHING MACHINE Josef Kampschulte, Osnabruck, Germany, as-

signor to Harold Ashton Richardson, New

York, Y.

Application October 18, 1932, Serial No. 638,361 In France December 12, 1931 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a steam washing machine in which the washer is ushed and cleaned by the steam produced in a boiler and conducted through a riser pipe into a rotary fountain head from which it discharges.

The novelty of the invention consists in that the fountain head is constructed as a turbine and provided with discharge apertures in such a manner that the hot steam, owing to the very rapid rotation of the fountain head and to the strong pressure prevailing therein flows in very finely divided condition directly on to the linen and uniformly flushes through and cleanses the same.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing in which:-

Fig. 1 shows the steam washing machine in Vertical section.

Fig. 2. is a horizontal section on line II-II of Fig. l.

Two domed suction bells a and f are loosely inserted in a steam linen boiler c. These bells are placed one in the other, interconnected and mutually shiftable in vertical direction. The outer suction bell a has a plurality of suction holes a and a long riser pipe b, whereas the inner suction bell f has suction holes y" and a short pipe with two slots h, h. The two suction bells a and f are connected by a screw bolt d which extends through bores in the outer bell a and the two longitudinal slots h, h in the inner suction bell f. Both suction bells a and f, which are mutually shiftable in vertical direction a distance equal to the length of the slots h, h are held apart when the outer suction bell a is not loaded, by means of a spring i surrounding the short pipe g and bearing at its lower end against the suction bell f and at its upper end against the suction bell a. A socket pipe k is slipped on to the riser pipe b and terminates at its upper end in a transverse discharge pipe l rigidly connected with the socket pipe 7c. This transverse discharge pipe Z has two oppositely directed discharge apertures m, m. A vertical screw spindle n is fixed on the upper side of the discharge pipe l and a hollow rotary fountain head o having a central bore is slipped on to the upper end of the screw spindle n and surrounds the discharge pipe l. The fountain head o has at its upper end an enlargement p in which an upper ball bearing set q and a lower ball bearing set r are arranged, the two ball bearing sets being separated by a race in the enlargement p. The upper is closed by a nut s screwed on to the screw spindle n and provided with a handle t. The flat bottom and the edge of the fountain head o are provided with spraying apertures u, and on the inner side of the bottom, inclined turbine blades v are mounted. The socket pipe lc has near its upper end several projections w which limit the upward movement of a linen holding down device w slipped on to the socket pipe 1c and resting loosely on the top of the linen. 10

The machine operates in the following man- 'he two suction bells a and f are inserted in the boiler c and the linen placed on the bell w which is pressed on to the bottom of the boiler l5 by the weight of the linen, the spring i being thus compressed. After the holding device wi has been slipped on to the socket pipe lc, this pipe is slipped on to the riser pipe b. The necessary lye or water is then poured in the boiler, whereupon the boiler is closed by the cover and heated. Experience has shown that the water in the suction bell f is first heated and evaporated in the middle; whereupon the water in the boiler outside the suction bells a and f is drained into the 26 bells through the suction holes a and f. The 1 hot steam ascending in the riser pipe b passes into the discharge pipe l and out of the discharge apertures m, m striking against the turbine blades 1J and imparting a very rapid rotary movement to 30 the fountain head, the rotary movement being particularly facilitated by the ball bearings q and 1'. Owing to the strong pressure prevailing in the fountain head o the hot steam is flung on to the linen through the spraying apertures u. The rapid rotation causes a fine and absolutely uniform distribution of the steam so that the steam effectively passes through the linen at all points. The water descending on to the linen is again drawn into the suction bells a and f through the suction holes w' and f and evaporated afresh. This operation repeats itself until the dirt has been flushed out of the linen. The holding down device w prevents the linen which swells during the boiling from coming into contact with the fountain head. After a certain time the cover is removed from the boiler and the fountain head o pulled off the riser pipe b together with the socket pipe k and holding down device w by means of the handle t, whereupon the washingcan be taken out of the boiler.

This boiler with the rotary fountain head may also be employed for other purposes, for examspindle above said discharge pipe and surrounding the same, inclined turbine blades on the bottom of said fountain head within the range of the discharge apertures of said discharge pipe and adapted to impart a rotary movement to said fountain head, said fountain head having apertures in its bottom between said blades for directing the fluid downwardly around the first named pipe.

JOSEF KAMPSCHULTE. 

